Airbus has been selected as the winner of the Canadian government's competition for new search and rescue aircraft. The C-295 won out against offerings from Leonardo’s C-27J and Embraer's KC-390 by offering the best pricing for the Royal Canadian Air Force's requirements. Under the $2.3 billion program, Airbus will collaborate with key Canadian firms, including PAL Aerospace on in-service support, Pratt & Whitney Canada for engines, CAE for training and simulation, and L3 Wescam for the electro-optic sensors.
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Rapid Fire | Friday, December 9, 2016, 00:58 UTC ()

Americas

Airbus has been selected as the winner of the Canadian government’s competition for new search and rescue aircraft. The C-295 won out against offerings from Leonardo’s C-27J and Embraer’s KC-390 by offering the best pricing for the Royal Canadian Air Force’s requirements. Under the $2.3 billion program, Airbus will collaborate with key Canadian firms, including PAL Aerospace on in-service support, Pratt & Whitney Canada for engines, CAE for training and simulation, and L3 Wescam for the electro-optic sensors.

Ukraine’s Antonov have offered their services to build Donald Trump a new Air Force One, if he intends to scrap the current order with Boeing. The offer came in the form of a tweet and has yet to be replied to by the US president-elect. One of the Soviet Union’s top aircraft producers, Antonov has produced only around twenty planes since Ukraine gained independence in 1991.

Europe

Poland has announced that they will spend $14.5 billion between 2017-2022, as part of a massive military modernization campaign. The priority procurements for the Polish Armed Forces are to include new air defense systems, 14 multi-purpose helicopters, 1200 UAVs, three coastal defense vessels and two mine destroyers, as well as an undisclosed amount of submarines that are to be jointly acquired by Poland and another NATO ally. Other areas where funding will be allocated include expanding air defense, naval, cybersecurity, tank and armored vehicle, and territorial defense capacities.

The Germany Navy is to purchase more capable air defence radar systems for three F-124 frigates, in an effort to become part of NATO’s broader missile defence system. Experts have said the new system will cost about 450 million euros and is likely to be built by France’s Thales, which built the radars in current use, and has been chosen by the Netherlands to supply new radars for their frigates. Meanwhile, German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp has announced that ithey suffered a cyber-attack by southeast Asian hackers in February, making off with project data from ThyssenKrupp’s plant engineering division and from other areas yet to be determined.

BAE Systems has been contracted by the UK government to build two additional River-class Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Royal Navy. The $360 million deal adds two more manufacturing and support projects to the five-ship program, bringing the total contract value to $797 million. Work on the two vessels, named Tamar and Spey, will involve more than 100 companies from Britain. The designs build on existing River-class ships with variants already used by the navies of Brazil and Thailand.

Asia Pacific

Aging Cheetah and Chetak helicopter fleets operated by the Indian Army and Air Force will be ground for comprehensive safety checks by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The ruling came in the wake of a fatal crash in West Bengal in November that killed three soldiers. Both helicopters’ air-worthiness is being questioned as New Delhi waits to release funding for a $1 billion replacement program that will see the purchase of Russian Kamov-226T light utility helicopters. Previous attempts to replace the Cheetah and Chetak failed to make it over the line, amid corruption allegations and technical issues.

An agreement has been signed by the governments of Australia and France, allowing for the sharing of classified information on defense programs. In a joint-statement issued by both ministries, officials said that the treaty will “directly support the delivery of the Future Submarine Program and will further enable greater cooperation on a range of national security matters.” Australia picked French firm DCNS in April for exclusive negotiations for design and construction of the Future Submarine Program, worth AU$50 billion (US$37 billion) over 50 years.

Today’s Video

BAE Systems’ River-class Offshore Patrol Vessels:

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